Teenagers Create Condoms That Glow When Exposed To STDs

Trending News: This Condom Glows When It Detects An STD

Why Is This Important?

Because fighting the spread of STIs is everyone’s responsibility.

Long Story Short

A group of teens competing in the U.K.’s TeenTech Awards have created a condom that glows in the presence of sexually transmitted infections, or STIs. The condom changes color depending on the infection.

Long Story

STI testing is kind of like going to the DMV in that while everyone has to from time to time, no one really wants to. This presents a conundrum — no one wants an STI, but no one wants to get tested for them, either, so we elect to use condoms to mitigate the risks of contracting one. But what if the condom itself could also perform the testing function? That’s the idea behind the S.T.EYE, a condom developed by teenagers that glows when exposed to STIs.

Using a special chemical on the surface that reacts to the bacteria and viruses associated with certain STIs, the condoms take on a fluorescent glow when it comes into contact with disease. The color also changes depending on the infection: It glows yellow for herpes, green for chlamydia, blue for syphilis and purple for HPV.

“We wanted to create something that makes detecting harmful STIs safer than ever before, so that people can take immediate action in the privacy of their own homes without the invasive procedures at the doctors,” 14-year-old Daanyaal Ali, one of the S.T.EYE’s creators, told The Daily Mail. The condom was the winning entry in the health category of the TeenTech Awards, a competition that challenges teenagers to develop tech that makes life “better, simpler or easier.”

The condoms are kind of a double-edged sword. In theory, anything that makes sexually active people more aware of their risk of spreading or contracting an STI is a positive development. And, as the creators indicated, not only do users not have to rely on annual exams to learn if they’re healthy, but they don’t have to endure the embarrassment of going to the doctor when they have something wrong “down there.” Not immediately, at least — after all, the condom can’t treat or even professionally diagnose an STI.

On the other hand, the idea of implementing this in the real world is insane. Imagine the horror on both of your faces when you withdraw your penis and it’s glowing bright blue — what do you say in that situation? Most importantly, it puts all of the onus and embarrassment on the woman, because the STI-detection only works on the condom’s outer surface. Women are reluctant enough to hook up out of fear of potential shame and embarrassment; imaging how they’ll feel when you can add a somewhat-reliable herpes diagnoses to your account of the night’s adventures.

More than anything, does anyone actually need this? Sure, nothing is completely fail-safe and it would behoove anyone to get tested after sleeping with a partner with a known STI, condom or not. But, isn’t that what regular old condoms are for? Instead of a condom that acts like Bilbo Baggins’ sword, Sting, in the presence of pathogens, maybe we instead focus on teaching people how to properly use protection and get tested regularly.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: Would you use a condom that glowed in the presence of STIs?

Disrupt Your Feed: Not gonna lie, I’m kind of into the idea of pretending my penis is a lightsaber. An STI-not-catching lightsaber.

Drop This Fact: Only 39% of American high school students are taught how to correctly use a condom in their health classes.